“The words you choose to say something are just as important as the decision to speak.” ~Author Unknown

I had an encounter this past week with a baby bird who was asking to be rescued. I try to be very aware of when an animal is asking for help and when they are not, and he was definitely asking for me to hear him. He was no more than a day old and had fallen into a rocky area in the porch area of a restaurant. There wasn’t a nest to be found or any adult birds around the area either. I just kept hearing this cheeping noise when we were at our table. My friend and I peered over the railing and scanned the rocks. Our waitress had even made the comment they had been hearing that noise all day and couldn’t find the source. I closed my eyes and asked for guidance. When I opened my eyes they landed on this little brown thing moving about. It was a newborn baby bird.

When we identified the little guy the waitress was beside herself. I calmly told her “I work with animals. It just takes a few phone calls to get someone to rescue them.” She said if I would do that then that would be great! So I started to look up various phone numbers for different places. It was late so I called the U of M Vet Hospital. They were able to give me the number for the proper place and, bam! I had a plan of action. However, apparently the waiters and waitresses in the restaurant were not so convinced. It was as though they hadn’t heard a word I had said and their ears were full of ‘fluff’.

The first person to come out was some sort of a manager. He was all in a frenzy and looked over the railing. I told him I had already made some calls and had taken care of it. Since I work with animals it was fine. He was still in frenzy over what to do and just walked back in to the restaurant by throwing his hands up in the air and shrugging his shoulders. He said fairly loudly “I don’t know why I’m the one who has to deal with this! I don’t know what to do.” My friend and I looked at each other a bit puzzled and just shrugged our shoulders.

The second group of people to come out were male waiters, or so I’m assuming. They walked behind in the rocky area and went up to the place where the bird had fallen and was chirping. I had a bit of anxiety whip through my system and I said, “I work with animals and I already called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and am waiting to hear back from them.” Only one of the men heard me. They kept looking at each other and kept asking each other why they thought should be done. I said again “I called and left a message for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and they said they’ll get back to me within the hour or so.” They still looked at each other in befuddlement and one of them said, “Well, you know what I would do. He’ll never make it anyway.”

The one sane guy looked at me in horror and was basically pleading with his eyes. I, again, said, “They said they’d call me back. I’ll take him myself to the WRC after dinner.” After some more discussion amongst themselves the one sane guy told the other one who really wanted to just step on the bird that we’d just wait to see what the WRC said when they called me back. I was thanking God in my head at that point. My friend and I looked at each other again feeling rather confused. What part of this are they not understanding?

Then, after asking the waitress if I could go back and just move a rock to help the little guy out from being trapped, I asked for a small to-go container to put him in. I was planning on putting him in there after dinner and transporting him to the WRC. She brought one out for me. But seconds after she handed it to me ANOTHER group of people came out with a to-go container and decided to take matters into their own hands. I was horrified at this point. I told them to leave him there and I would take him to the WRC when we were done with dinner (which hadn’t even come out yet for us to eat). The guy’s girlfriend, or whoever she was, kept telling him to put him in the box. I swear these people had to be deaf and were getting to be really frustrating at this point. He picked up the bird and then wasn’t sure how to put him in the box. He had to tumble the bird from his hand into this styrofoam container. I was trying to not show my panic. I said to them, “Look, I work with animals. I have a call into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and I’ll take him there when I’m done with dinner.”

The response from these 2 people were, “They won’t take him there. He won’t survive. They don’t take birds this young. He’s just going to die anyway.” *insert feeling of bang head against wall here*

I finally convinced them to just hand over the box and I would take care of it. If they didn’t take him at the WRC then I would find a way to help this bird in whatever way I could. All I knew is that this little guy wasn’t even close to giving up. I had also been doing BodyTalk FastAid on him throughout the evening, as well as the cortices technique. He was far from saying he was done in this life. Yet nobody was listening to me.

I did end up with this newborn bird at the dinner table. I could hardly eat I was so horrified. After dinner I ended up having to take him home with me because the WRC was closed until morning. I just prayed I was hearing the little fellow correctly and he was going to survive the night. I had no clue how to actually take care of a newborn bird, but I would do my best. He did as he promised. He survived the night and was a trooper. He is now at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and doing just fine.

Whew! What a night! A few days later my friend and I were talking about that incident. She said it was like they couldn’t hear what I was saying. They didn’t hear that I was an expert in my field and I could take care of this situation because I work with animals. They just didn’t hear it, or couldn’t hear it. It wasn’t that I wasn’t speaking up, because obviously words were coming out of my mouth. But the energy behind them wasn’t there. I just didn’t say it with enough authority or power for them to hear that I knew what I was doing. Looking back I know this was true. I can look back and see that I really didn’t want to explain to them how I knew or what I did to be an expert. I didn’t want to go through the eye rolls and the ‘she’s crazy’ looks when I say the words Animal Communicator and BodyTalk for Animals Practitioner. So I kept my mouth shut about how I knew what I knew, but still insisted the bird come with me.

I asked the bird what that was all about. This is what he said:

Bird: “I refused to give up. You need to refuse to give up. The situation looked very bleak for me but you were persistent and you refused to give up. I still had my voice and I was darned well going to use it. I knew that if I didn’t value my own life and speak up for it, I’d definitely not make it! No matter how bleak a situation looks, you can always make it better. Perseverance is the only way you’re going to get what you want. Only you know what you want and you had better speak up about it so you get it. You must also value what you do and then your energy will come through. People will hear you when you value your knowledge. You knew what was right. You just had to speak it. And once you valued it, someone heard you. The woman at the WRC heard it and even asked you for more information. She heard you because you valued what you did when you talked with her.”

Me: “It’s easier when I’m around people who understand animals. They may not officially do the communication piece, but they do know they have a connection to animals. They can’t always place where their knowing comes from, but they know.”

Bird: “So it’s easier to value yourself in the presence of those that value you anyway. Now it’s time to value yourself in the presence of others who have no clue.”

He didn’t say a lot, but it was enough to get the message. So, if you’re struggling to value yourself in the presence of strangers, remember this little bird. He didn’t give up. Not for one moment. He cheeped all night long and was constantly moving in that little box. He valued his life and he let us know it. He persevered and got what he wanted.

If you feel you would like help in standing in your power and valuing yourself regardless of who’s presence you’re in, or feel there are blocks to keeping you from getting what you want, contact me for a 20 minute complimentary consultation. I will help you to see what is blocking your progress so you can remove it and move forward.

*Kristen is a Certified BodyTalk Practitioner, BodyTalk for Animals Practitioner, and Professional Animal Communicator. She is owner of Talk Pawsitive located in Minneapolis, MN. She travels around the country teaching others how to do animal communication and helping people build relationships with the animals in their world. You can reach her by emailing her at Kristen.BodyTalk@gmail.com. Visit her website at www.KristenScanlon.com. ‘Like’ her Facebook page at Talk Pawsitive, or Twitter at @TalkPawsitive.